(((O))) : Hidden Currents – Guest Article: A Negative Narrative

Distinction in the digisphere: Kicking against the pricks and standing out from the madding crowd

It’s no secret than the music industry is in a state of flux. The big corporate labels first got greedy, and then got irrationally upset when we understandably pulled the rug of distribution out from under their fat cat feet; the interesting indie folk got lazy and confused about whether they were in this for the bucks, the sucks or the fucks; and the punters got savvy as middleman-free information became prevalently available and everyone learned to think for themselves, thereby sidestepping the conniving ways of mainstream MOR marketing messages and paid PR. Internet v3.0 (I forget which version we’re on now) changed the music industry’s marketplace forever, with blogs, user-driven content and independent media sources flooding the landscape and providing unbiased information through credible channels without the hard sell. It seems the easy thing to do for the upper echelons of the industry – whose revenues are dropping and whose influence is waning – to chastise modern markets and the digisphere for this pandemonium, but in all reality the industry has had it too good for too long and have not invested enough time and energy into the things that really make a difference to longevity and integrity: progression, innovation, perspiration and – most importantly – distinction. Hey – but what do I know. I just run a website, almost single-handedly (with a little help from my backroom binary boys), for nothing other than kudos, love and the occasional free gig ticket. In this I am not alone . . .

Distinction is essential in this new digital landscape we find ourselves in. The arrival of WordPress, Bandcamp and other similar publishing platforms now means that anyone can build on their earlier skills learnt customising their MySpace, and write a blog or cobble together a basic website. A rudimentary knowledge of journalism, grammar and/or owning functioning ears doesn’t even seem to be a necessary pre-requisite. The rise and rise of Twitter and other social media channels also means that it doesn’t really take too much common sense, industry knowledge or contacts in high places to get exposure reasonably quickly. There are now 1,125,765 music blogs and websites in the UK (I’ve made up this figure, but it feels true) covering every imaginably musical niche, quiche and pastiche. So – how does one standout amidst this binary clammer? Rather than dissecting other people’s attempt to distinguish themselves online, let me outline our general ethos over at A Negative Narrative and how we distinguish ourselves from the baying pack of pixels biting at our ankles.

1) Our content is unique in that instead of the tired and dreary formula of re-telling the world about musicians mumbled, misunderstood words in a half-arsed write-up, we let them submit their answers through the beautiful, poetic and artistically-vague medium of photography (thereby retaining their own subjectivity and creative control). We even decided this should be called an ‘intraview’ which is our very own word and concept

2) Our website scrolls sideways. It’s an instant visual distinction but also one that fits in with our camera-film theme and our style of chronological storytelling. Aesthetic distinctions are good for getting punters through the door. Once they’re inside your content, wit and wisdom will have to do the rest

3) We are not governed by sponsors and do not wish for anyone to advertise on our site. Don’t get me wrong – we’d love to make some money out of our hard work and innovative concept one day, but it isn’t our raison d’être. We are principled. We will not sell out. We had for a short time hung the Vice logo on our site as an invited member of their affiliate blog network, however we soon realised that – with them essentially being Nike’s wank sock and far too London-centric for our liking (we’re based in Leeds) – it wasn’t a good fit. We ditched them despite the probable exposure and marketing benefits of keeping them on-board. It doesn’t matter. We feel good about ourselves. We don’t need a trillion hipsters in piss-yellow slacks with ironic haircuts telling us we’re doing good

4) We are still unsure whether we are a blog, a website, an online ‘zine or a portfolio of sorts. This ambiguity isn’t in itself a distinction, but it does give us scope to do whatever the fuck we want. How many other online music publications for example would run a feature about a beached whale?

5) The personality of our site, as well as the personably nature in which all our output is written also helps us stand out. We have opinions and we aren’t afraid to use them. We’d rather be hated for being ourselves than loved for being someone we’re not. Or something. We would prefer it if you like us though

Let me also – for reasons of balancing chi, yin, yang and everything in betwixt give you an example of how not to do things by looking briefly (I don’t want to give them too much PR) at the NME who still (misguidedly) claim to be ‘the world’s number one source of new music news’* yet have seemingly overlooked ever evolving their content, bad attitude or sloppy journalism, preferring to rely instead on the (diminishing) historical strength of their brand. Upon closer inspection you will see that NME have actually digitally devolved with shoddily-written, horrendously-edited stories held together on their whoremonger of a website by cross-promoted marketing messages, and the penetrating, raping cock of their corporate bedfellows. It’s hard to believe that a once semi-respectable publication – which presumably has human resources, financial resources and contacts a-plenty – can produce such utter, utter bollocks and still pompously claim they’re great. Of course the circulation figures don’t lie and indeed prove that you can’t earn a crust – and you certainly can’t earn respect – by simply relaying inane non-stories (mainly lifted from other publications) about what colour socks Liam Gallagher is wearing today, what Lady Gaga had for breakfast and who is stored in Muse’s crank bank. NME will be dead within a year. It’s a hope more than a prediction, but I’m pretty sure if they maintain their current trajectory it’ll be a reality.

There’s no point copying good ideas per se, as your imitation – though flattering – will be by its very nature indistinctive (and possibly plagiaristic). There are a million ways you could stand out. You could focus on a particular niche or genre. Fuck – why not even make your own up. Here you go – cripplecore. You can have that one for free. You could focus on a geographic region, city or country. You could push the boundaries of visual beauty or technological savviness (how many websites are easy to view on an iPhone?). You could probably do a million things but I should stop there because I’ve already had two good new ideas whilst writing this and I need to keep some for myself. Hopefully though, you can take your own scintillas of geniality and run with them. Invest some energy in them. Hug them, fuck them and spoon them lovingly. Think inside the box (everybody’s thinking outside of it nowadays so flip the switch on them). Explore your bad ideas as thoroughly as your good ones. Consider your niche, your market and your points of differentiation; no matter how small or seemingly insignificant you may think them they will help you stand out (kind of like Cindy Crawford’s mole – I guess).

MySpace is the perfect example of why we need to constantly evolve and to distinguish ourselves. Be sure to remember that the next time you drive past its still twitching corpse on the information super-highway. Evolve, innovate and do your utmost to be different – or die a thousand mundane deaths in the middle of the road. I know which I prefer, and I know what we at A Negative Narrative will be doing.

*Several days after this article was written, and after some online lobbying and direct questioning of the NME’s pompous, arrogant and inaccurate claims, they changed their self-description to ‘first for music news’. To me this is still wholly inaccurate (as their non-stories are almost always from other sources) but I’m not going to kick a dying dog in the cunt. A Negative Narrative 1, IPC Magazines 0.

Hidden Currents top 5 Intraviews:

1) Marissa Nadler – a beautiful series of photos from this “gothic folk chanteuse” (in Ewan’s words)
2) The Chapman Family – the sad demise of the Redcar whale as seen through the eyes (well, camera phone) of Kingsley from The Chapman Family
3) Alcopop Records – a fantastic photo diary of this year’s Great Escape by Kev and Jack – two of the nicest people in the music business
4) Frank Turner – I love Frank Turner. There’s no way this wasn’t making our top 5!
5) Three Colours – X-rated scrabble and more from these London-based post-rockers